Posted by Lisa Hochgraf
Today Ron Shevlin asked the attendees in his session at CUES Symposium: A CEO/Chairman Exchange to be disruptive. Shevlin, senior analyst at Aite Group, Boston, asked them to yell and cheer, to clap and be loud, to make sure that the attendees in the session in the next room would take pause and wonder what was going on.
While the attendees in Shevlin's session rather quickly quieted down, such disruption is an ongoing day-to-day reality for credit unions, Shevlin said.
"We need to be talking about disruption in the marketplace, both how we are dealing with disruption and how are we being disruptive," he said. "We really need to be thinking about what role CUs will play in either creating or reacting to what’s happening in the marketplace."
For example, in discussing consumer trends now affecting credit unions, Shevlin presented specific questions for discussion. How would you answer them?
- Is the trust advantage that CUs have traditionally enjoyed over banks real and systemic? (Shevlin argues it's not.)
- Can personal financial management tools (such as Mint and Geezeo) add value to member relationships? (Shevlin says this is a great place to reach members.)
- Can social media help engage customers? (Shevlin says yes, but sees challenges since members don't currently use social media to follow their banks, and CUs are generally new to using social media.)
- Do CUs need a generational-driven strategy? (Shevlin says marketing to Gen Y is overrrated--that the real account dollars lie with Gen X and Boomers.)
